The Body in Jean–Luc Godard's New Wave Films

Through analysis of À bout de souffle, Une femme est une femme, Le Mépris and Alphaville, alongside discussion of some of Godard's lesser-known French New Wave films, the book explores the interrelation between bodies, books and bathrooms that they facilitate. In so doing, it aims to destabilise the French New Wave's myth of male exceptionalism and denaturalise the gender dynamic most commonly viewed at its heart, revealing that the women who make up a fundamental part of its fabric are not textually trapped by Godard's authorial presence. Instead, their corporeality disrupts any purported authorial and national ownership of their bodies.
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